Big Time Nightmare
by squoctobird
Summary: BTR/NOES cross over. A strange man is haunting the dreams of the boys of Big Time Rush. Rated M because of violence, gore, horror etc. Slight slash  JAGAN  but nothing more than some fluff.
1. Chapter 1

Logan was out of breath. He had been running for what felt like an eternity and he no longer knew where he was. He didn't recognize any of his surroundings but it all felt oddly familiar. Logan leaned against a brick wall and closed his eyes as he gasped to catch his breath. Just as his breathing started to steady, he could feel the presence of someone standing in front of him. He slowly opened his eyes.

"Hello, Logan," a gruff voice said.

His scream echoed through the streets.

* * *

_Several Days Earlier_

It had been months since Stephanie King first came to the Palm Woods and scared all the guests while making her low budget horror movie. In that time, she and Carlos had become good friends. They both had lots of energy, so it was obvious when things began to change. He saw her in the lobby. She had dark bags under her eyes and she dragged herself from place to place. The spring in her step was gone.

Carlos wanted to help, so he stopped by her apartment that evening. He knocked on her door, but there was no answer. He knew someone was home - he could hear the television. He knocked again, louder this time and shouted, "Steph! It's Carlos!" Moments later Stephanie opened the door and let Carlos in. His usual smile faded quickly when he saw her up close. Stephanie looked like hell and her apartment didn't look much better.

There were numerous empty coffee cups from all the local coffee joints scattered about and Carlos nearly tripped as they walked over to the couch. They sat down. Stephanie muted the television. "So how's it going, Carlos?" she asked, clearly trying to avoid the elephant in the room.

"I should be asking you," he responded. "I'm sorry, but Steph, you look like shit. What's wrong?"

"I can't sleep," she said.

"Well, downing all this caffeine isn't going to help much," he said as he held up an empty coffee cup from Starbucks.

"No. Seriously, Carlos. I mean I _can't _sleep. If I sleep then I dream and if I dream then I d-" She was too afraid to finish the sentence.

"This is all over some nightmares?" Carlos was a bit puzzled. Steph was not one to be scared. They had stayed up late numerous nights watching horror flicks and he had never seen her like this. "Dreams aren't real, Steph. You know that."

"These are different," she insisted, tears starting to form in her eyes. She turned her face away from Carlos, embarrassed. There was a moment of silence before she began to speak. "There's this man. I'm not sure who he is but he's been burned. And he wears a weird hat and a dirty red and green sweater. And he has knives for fingers." It was impossible to hold back the tears now, and they slowly streamed down her cheek.

Carlos wrapped his arm around Stephanie and pulled her in close to him to comfort her. He sweetly wiped the tears from her cheek with his thumb. "What if I stayed the night? Would that help you sleep?" She just nodded.

Carlos made himself comfortable on the couch with a few extra pillows and a blanket from one of the closets. Stephanie's room was just a few feet away and she was going to sleep with her door open so Carlos could hear if she needed any help. He assured her that everything would be fine.

It wasn't long before Carlos was asleep and was sprawled out with an arm and a leg hanging off the side of the couch. He slept soundly, but he awoke with a jolt at the sound of Stephanie screaming. He jumped up and ran to her room but the door was closed. He tried to open it but it was locked.

"Stephanie! Steph! Open the door!" Carlos shouted as he continued shaking the knob. Stephanie's horrific screams were unrelenting. He started pounding on the door harder, now pushing his body up against it. He was in tears, helpless to get to his friend. Then the screaming ended abruptly and Carlos nearly fell into the bedroom as the door swung open with ease.

The room was dark and Carlos could not see Stephanie. He reached for the light switch, but felt a wet substance. He pulled his hand back from the darkness of Stephanie's room and into the light of the hallway. Carlos gasped when he saw it was covered in blood. In a panic, he quickly flipped the light on.

Red was everywhere: on the bed, on the walls, on the carpet. Carlos couldn't believe what he was seeing. As he took it all in, he saw Stephanie lying on her stomach, motionless in front of her bed. He ran over to her and cradled her in his arms, trying to wake her up. He sat there in disbelief. She just couldn't be dead. She couldn't be.


	2. Chapter 2

Carlos sat in the lobby of the Palm Woods hotel with his head in his hands. His clothes were stained with blood and tears filled his eyes. His vision was blurred but he could still see the flashing lights of the ambulance and the cop cars. It was all surreal.

The sound of a man's voice pulled Carlos back to reality. "Huh?" he said as he looked up.

"Mr. Garcia? We're going to need you to come down to the station to answer a few questions," a middle aged cop with a thick southern accent said.

Carlos started to answer, but was distracted by the EMTs who were wheeling Stephanie's body to the ambulance. For some reason he couldn't look away.

The black bag on the stretcher started to move. Slowly the bag began to rise, as if the person inside was sitting up. The bag unzipped itself, exposing Stephanie's bloody remains. Her head was tilted to the left in an unnatural way. Her hair was matted down with blood. Her eyes popped open and she looked directly at Carlos. She reached out to him with a blood-splattered hand.

"Mr. Garcia?"

Carlos jumped at the sound of the man's voice and blinked twice. Everything was back to normal. He shook his head to erase the images from his mind.

"S-sorry," Carlos replied. "Can I get c-cleaned up first?" He felt really uncomfortable with his friend's blood on his body.

"We'll need your clothes for evidence, but I don't see why you can't change and get some rest first." The cops had already gotten his preliminary statement and Carlos wasn't under arrest. "Come by in the morning."

* * *

James, Kendall and Logan were worried about their friend Carlos. He didn't come home that night, and now there was some sort of emergency at the Palm Woods. The police were not letting any of the guests leave their apartments and Carlos wasn't answering his cell phone.

Logan was pacing back and forth in front of the couch where Kendall and James were sitting. As he made another pass, James reached out and gently grabbed Logan by the wrist. "We're all worried about Carlos, Logie, but you've got to stop this. I'm getting dizzy just looking at you."

Logan sighed. "I just can't sit around and do nothing, James. It's 3 o'clock in the morning and our best friend is missing. For all we know he could be the one in that ambulance downstairs!" Logan gestured towards the flashing lights coming through the window.

Kendall was just about to voice his opinion when they all heard the clicking of a key in their front door. Logan immediately turned around and headed in that direction, the other two following behind him. As Carlos entered the apartment he was greeted with overlapping "where were you's" and other questions of concern from the other three boys. But they all grew silent when they noticed the blood on his clothes.

"Oh my God, Carlos. Are you hurt?" Logan asked giving him a quick scan with his eyes for any visible wounds.

"No. No," Carlos protested, "I'm a-alright."

"But what about the bloo-"

"Not mine," he said solemnly. "It's Stephanie's. Guys, something horrible has happened."

As they headed over to the couch, Carlos went on to explain what happened a few hours earlier. He told them how Stephanie was scared to sleep because of nightmares, because of the man with knives for fingers. And then about the screaming. And about the blood.

"Knives for fingers?" James interjected. "That's totally weird. I had a dream earlier tonight that had a guy with knives for fingers. The scariest thing was his sense of style. His hat was so 10 years ago and he was in desperate need of a facial."

"Two people can't dream about the same thing, can they?" Kendall asked. Carlos just shrugged so the trio looked to Logan.

"Only by coincidence," Logan answered. "Doubt it means anything though."

Carlos looked a bit worried, but Logan assured him that there is no way dreams can hurt you and that it probably wasn't even the same guy in James' dream. He just nodded and headed to the bathroom. He needed to wash this night off of him and get some sleep before going to the police in the morning. The rest of the boys headed to their bedrooms to try and get some rest as well.

_

* * *

_

Unlike his boyfriend Logan who had fallen asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow, James just couldn't fall asleep. He felt restless and couldn't seem to get comfortable. Instead of continuing to toss and turn, he decided to read the latest Pop Tiger magazine. "Oooh. Dak Zevon's top ten favorite hair gels."

As James was reading, he heard some sounds coming from the living room. He was a bit relieved he wasn't the only one still awake. He quietly got out of bed and left his room as to not disturb Logan.

The living room was dark and it took his eyes a few seconds to adjust to the lack of light. He didn't see anyone right away, but then he heard the front door open and saw someone quickly go out. Was it Carlos? James followed the figure to find out.

James entered the hallway just in time to see the figure go through another door at the end of the hall. "Carlos?" he called out as he continued to follow him.

Behind the door was a long twisted staircase. It was dark except for the flicker of orange light at the end of the stairs. James made his way down the steps calling for Carlos as he neared the end.

"Jaaaaames," an unfamiliar voice taunted. This caused James to stop in his tracks. That definitely wasn't Carlos.

"Who's there?" James shouted out as he continued into this strange place. He reached the end of the stairs and rounded a corner. There were large rusty pipes above his head and smaller pipes lining the walls. He began to feel uncomfortable. Something about this place felt wrong but he kept going, chasing after the voice.

James climbed down a ladder, bringing him to another level of this unknown place. To his left was a huge boiler and all of a sudden there was so much smoke in the air. His eyes began to sting and quickly started to tear up. He pushed onward, waving as much smoke away as he could. He was coughing and his chest began to hurt.

"I'm gonna get you," the same strange voice called out, followed by a garbled laugh.

James decided he wanted out of there, and fast. In a blind panic he began to run. But smoke had left him disoriented and he couldn't remember his way out of the maze. He could hear someone following after him, causing him to run even faster.

As he turned a corner, the dark haired boy reached a dead end. James cursed as he leaned against the moist wall and slammed his clenched fist down in frustration. He was sweating and out of breath. There was another garbled laugh and James turned around, now face to face of the source of the voice.

"Hello, James," the man said closing in on him. James could see him clearly now. Black hat. A stained red and green sweater. A horrifying disfigured and burned face. Blades on the fingers of his right hand.

The creep tapped his bladed fingers on the pipes as he became uncomfortably close to James. The terrified teen could feel the man's breath on his face. He closed his eyes, desperately wishing he could hide.

"Pretty, pretty James." The man said as he raised his bladed hand up to James' face and slid the dull side against the boy's cheek. He let out a small whimper and closed his eyes even tighter, preparing for the worst.

What he felt next was completely unexpected. Instead of pain, James just felt a tug of his hair. He opened one eye first and then the other revealing the man and his sadistic smile.

He felt his head. The shape didn't feel right. He moved his hand to his shoulder. It took James a moment, but he soon realized what happened.

"Snip, snip," the man said using two of his bladed fingers to imitate scissors as he let out a vicious laugh.

James began to scream.

* * *

"James! James!" a familiar voice yelled. "James! Wake up!"

Someone was shaking him. He flailed about and continued screaming until he realized it was Logan that had a hold of him and not the man. James immediately wrapped his arms tightly around Logan and began to sob.

Logan just held him, rubbing his back trying to comfort him. "Shhhhh. It was only a nightmare, James. It's okay. I'm here."

As the smaller boy continued to speak soothing words to his boyfriend, he noticed something behind him. Without breaking their embrace, Logan reached out to the object. It was soft and silky. He brought it up closer to his face to inspect it.

It was a lock of James' hair.


	3. Chapter 3

The night of his nightmare, James refused to go back to sleep. Consequently, Logan didn't get much sleep of his own. Logan had hoped his presence in his boyfriend's bed would make things easier for James to sleep, but as soon as things would get quiet (and usually just as Logan was nodding off) James would get nervous and move, waking the smaller boy.

James was a wreck the next morning and the situation was only exacerbated when James inspected himself in mirror. That's when he saw it- a huge chunk of his hair was missing. That's when he knew that his dream wasn't just any dream. That's when he starting crying.

Logan was in his closet looking for clothes to wear when he heard the sobs. He peeked around the door to see James combing his hair. Parting it to the left and then to the right. Combing it back and combing forward. His sobs grew harder after each failed attempt to hide the damage. Logan quickly ran to the side of his weeping boyfriend, wiping the tears from the taller boy's cheeks. "Shh," he whispered soothingly.

"Logie, I look horrible!" James said, sobs calming slightly. "That creep in my dream was real! My dream was real! Look at my hair!"

"Dreams aren't real, James." Logan said making his own attempt at styling James' hair. "There's got to be a logical explanation for this."

"Like what?" James said with a hint of anger in his voice.

Logan didn't have an answer. He had always been a skeptic of the paranormal, but the lock of hair he had found had him at a loss.

"I, uh, don't know right off-hand James, but I'll find out. I promise." He leaned up and placed a chaste kiss on the taller boy's forehead. "C'mon, let's get dressed. We're going to be late."

"No. I'm not going anywhere with my hair like this." James crossed his arms across his chest in protest.

"You can't stay locked in our bedroom until your hair grows back."

"Oh, you bet I can." James didn't budge.

Logan placed his hands on his hips in frustration. That's when it hit him. With a grin on his face, he ran over to the bed and rummaged through their bedside drawer. He swiftly returned to James' side with something in his hand.

"What about this?" Logan asked as he tied James' lucky bandanna around the taller boy's head. "There. Perfect."

James inspected himself in the mirror and after adjusting a few strands of hair, he agreed. "Perfect."

* * *

All the boys were sluggish that morning at breakfast. James and Logan weren't the only ones who had trouble sleeping. Carlos couldn't close his eyes without seeing Stephanie's room. Kendall just wasn't as spry if he didn't get his full eight hours. After consuming bowls of cereal and cups of coffee, James, Logan and Kendall headed down to Roque Records for dance practice and Carlos left for the police station.

Carlos fought back a yawn. "I'll be at practice as soon as I can," he told his friends as they parted ways, "Hopefully Gustavo won't be too angry."

"Are we talking about the same Gustavo?" Kendall asked only half sarcastically. He placed a reassuring hand on Carlos's shoulder. "Don't worry. We can handle Gustavo."

* * *

"No. No. No! It's left, right, kick, turn!" Mr. X yelled as he demonstrated the moves.

The three boys tried again, but Logan tripped over his own feet and fell into Kendall who reached out for something to steady himself but grabbed James instead causing the entire group to fall into a pile in the middle of the studio floor. The boys would have laughed had they not been so tired. Lying down for a moment, even if it was tangled together, was a bit of relief so they did not immediately get up again. That is until Gustavo busted into the studio.

"What. IS. Going. ON. Here?" he asked in unusual cadence. "AND WHERE IS CARLOS?"

"We told you, he had to go speak to the police this morning," Kendall shot back. "And none of us got much sleep last night."

"Oh wah wah wah," Gustavo said mockingly moving his hands to imitate a crying baby. "If you want to be on top sometimes you make sacrifices - LIKE NO SLEEP!"

"It's not like we were up partying! We told you what happened!" Kendall may have been tired, but that didn't stop him from talking back to Gustavo like he always did.

Kendall continued to rant and rave until Gustavo interrupted him. "Fine. FINE. Take the afternoon off to get some rest. But I expect ALL of you back at six o'clock to record the new song." The three boys grabbed their stuff and hurried out of the studio.

"AND IT BETTER BE PERFECT!" Gustavo shouted at them as he slammed the door.

Once everyone had gone, Gustavo let out long sigh. To be honest, he hadn't been sleeping much himself lately. Griffin had been adding some extra pressure on him for Big Time Rush's new single and the stress had manifested itself into what Gustavo called "Griffin-mares." Luckily he only had to tweak the new song a little before the group returned that evening.

He sat down at his piano and started to play out the melody, humming and singing softly to himself. "My love…Mmmhmm…girl…Oh giirl… mmmhmm." He took out a pencil and made some marks on the sheet music. A yawn. More tapping of piano keys. "Mmmhmm … always with you… mmmhmm." Another yawn.

"I need some coffee." he said to himself. He started to yell for Kelly, but remembered she was running errands. With a sigh of disgust, the large man got up from his piano bench and headed to the break room to make it himself.

Gustavo returned to his office to find Griffin sitting in a chair behind his desk. The usual entourage was noticeably absent. "I like this chair, Gustavo."

"Griffin, what are you doing here?" Gustavo's voice was filled with anger, contempt and panic mixed all into one. The song definitely wasn't ready for Griffin to hear.

"The new single is OUT," Griffin said as he stood. "The research team has come up with a new song that we think will reach a better market." He handed the sheet music to Gustavo.

"What is this! Some sort of nursery rhyme!" He said looking over the music as he sat down at the piano. He began to play the music. "1, 2, Freddy's coming for you. 3, 4 better lock your door. 5, 6 grab your crucifix." Gustavo banged his hand down on the keys in frustration. This was definitely not right for the band. And who the hell was Freddy? This was worse than when Griffin tried to have the boys' photo taken as space matadors with giant stuffed puppies. Gustavo stood up in protest and turned around to speak his mind to Griffin.

"You don't like my song," a gruff voice said.

Gustavo was looking at Griffin, but that wasn't his voice. And he was no longer in his grey business suit. He was standing with his hands behind his back and wearing a red and green shirt, a dirty pair of pants, and a black hat that was angled where Gustavo could barely see Griffin's face. All he could see was a half of a vicious smile.

His gut told him to run like hell. But before he could, the man lunged at him and grabbed him by the throat. He slammed him against the wall, knocking down Gustavo's various gold and platinum albums. He was no longer able to breathe and was gasping. The creep just laughed, revealing his true face. Gustavo's eyes grew wide.

The creep raised his bladed hand and flashed the knives at Gustavo before slashing the four blades across the large man's stomach. Blood gushed forth as his intestines and stomach fell to the floor with a plop. With a chuckle, the creep let go of his throat and Gustavo's lifeless body slid slowly down the wall into a puddle of his own blood and viscera.

* * *

When Kelly returned to Roque Records at 5PM, the studio was eerily quiet. Normally there was some sort of commotion going on with Big Time Rush or with Gustavo playing his piano. Maybe he had gone out for dinner?

She made her way down the hall to Gustavo's office. The room was dark and the door was half open. Something definitely felt wrong. She slowly opened the door and flipped the light switch. What she saw made her vomit. As she ran towards the bathroom she pulled out her cell phone to call 911.


	4. Chapter 4

James, Logan and Kendall entered apartment 2J, thankful that Gustavo had given them some time to rest.

Kendall immediately plopped down on the couch. "Wake me when it's time for dinner." Logan just rolled his eyes and went to find his lap top. He was really tired, but he had made a promise to James. He would look up some information on dreams now and take a nap later.

Logan set up his lap top on the counter in the kitchen. He was just about to type 'dreams' in the search box when he saw James out of the corner of his eye. He was sitting in a chair in the living room with his legs pulled up to his chest, his arms hugging his knees.

"James, you should go get some sleep,"

The taller boy shook his head. "No. I'm not going back to sleep. Not until I know it's safe."

Logan sighed and stood up. He grabbed James by the arm, pulling him from the chair and into the bed room. He was too tired to fight back. With some coddling and a few kisses Logan was able to get James in bed. He lovingly pulled the covers over his boyfriend and tucked him in. "Now get some rest. Everything will be fine"

"W-will you stay with me?" James asked. "Y'know, just in case?" He had that look on his face that Logan could never say no to.

"Let me grab my lap top and I'll be right back."

When Logan returned James was snoring softly. He sat in his own bed as to not disturb James and began his research.

He first searched just the term _DREAMS_ which pulled up several different sites claiming they could interpret them. Logan figured this was a good place to start so he looked up hair cuts or hair loss. _"You feel you are being criticized unfairly."_ Well, that could certainly describe all the boys' relationship with Gustavo. No matter how well they did, it never seemed to be good enough for their producer. But how did James' actual hair get cut?

Logan continued to search and found that people who sleep walk could do all sorts of things, but it didn't seem like James was sleep walking, so he doubt that James cut his own hair. He was experiencing a nightmare. That Logan was sure of.

According to the medical websites he found nightmares can come from sleeping uncomfortably or from anxiety or stress. Before going to sleep, they were all worried about Carlos and then to hear the horrible news of Stephanie's death. It would be enough to give anyone nightmares.

On that same page, Logan saw the term LUCID DREAMS. He clicked the link and read this was when you were aware that you were dreaming. According the medical article, it has been used to help patients' who suffer from nightmares. If you knew you were dreaming while having a nightmare, you could theoretically wake yourself up. This would be some useful information to give to James.

Unable to find the information he was looking for to explain James' awkward hair cut, Logan decided to look for information on the man that James and Stephanie saw in their dreams. _KNIVES FOR FINGERS_ seemed to be the perfect term to start with.

After scrolling through pages about cutlery and some bondage websites, Logan stumbled upon an article about the Palm Woods.

_"No Trial for Palm Woods Blade Murders. _

_The only suspect in the Palm Woods Blade Murders has been found dead in the hotel's boiler room. Fred Krueger (pictured left) was found burnt to death at 7:00 pm yesterday evening. Krueger was the Palm Woods' maintenance manager and is believed to be responsible for the deaths of 9 residents, 7 of the victims being children. The evidence against Krueger was massive. The murder weapon, a glove with razor blades added to the fingers, as well as traces of several victims' blood was found in Krueger's home. It seemed that conviction was inevitable. Officers are still investigating the fire that killed Krueger, but there appears to be no sign of foul play."_

Logan was unable to believe his eyes. The man in the photo was wearing exactly what James and Stephanie had described: Red and green sweater, black hat. And the article explained the burnt face and the bladed hand. The man from their dreams was real, or at least had been.

His eyelids were growing heavy, but Logan continued to research this Fred Krueger. He found tons of articles of the murders and even photos of the crime scenes. There was even a theory that Krueger's death wasn't an accident, but that some residents of the Palm Woods had started the fire for revenge. Could his presence in dreams be some sort of retaliation? That was crazy. That sort of thing only happened in horror movies.

Logan mulled over this on his way to the kitchen for a drink of water. He grabbed a glass from the cupboard and filled it up with water from the faucet. He gulped that down quickly and turned the faucet on again for a refill. Before the glass could reach the stream of water, a bladed hand quickly emerged from the drain grabbing Logan by the neck.

The arm pulled Logan down to the bottom of the sink. His ear was squished against the cold metal and his nose and mouth were in the direct path of the faucet's flow. Logan found himself choking on water and unable to breathe. His screams came out garbled and unheard. He tried to pry the hand from around his neck, but cut his hand on one of the blades. He felt the warm liquid trickle down his arm, a contrast to the cold water that was suffocating him.

Logan panicked. Was he dreaming? The sink began to fill up with water. With Logan's head blocking he drain, there was nowhere for the water to go. His arms flailed about trying to pull himself up. He was not going to let himself drown in the kitchen sink. But the struggle was in vain. His vision started to go dark and he could feel himself starting to drift off-

_Cause the world stops when I put my arms around you, around you_-

Logan coughed up water, gasping for air. He looked around quickly realizing he was in his own bed. It had been a dream after all.

_And nothing even matters. And nothing even matters._

His head was clouded, so it took Logan a minute to realize his cell phone was ringing. He answered it with a breathless hello because his lungs were still full of water. It was Kelly. Logan listened in silence. Fear was plastered across his face as he dropped his phone in shock.

"Who was that?" a sleepy James yawned.

Logan let out a small gasp unaware that James had woken up.

"Uh-uh. I-it was K-Kelly," he stuttered. "G-G-Gustavo is d-dead."

James said something, but Logan didn't hear him. He had just noticed his hand was bleeding.


	5. Chapter 5

After hearing of Gustavo's death, Logan ran to the bathroom to vomit. He wasn't sure if it was from the shock or if he was still feeling the effects of almost drowning. Either way, it had James very worried.

"Logie, are you okay?" James asked through the door.

"Yeah. J-just give me a m-minute," Logan said, still not feeling well. He wiped his mouth with toilet paper and flushed the toilet. He was a bit wary of the sink, but rinsed his mouth out. He looked down at his hand. He needed to get stitches but just bandaged it up himself with some gauze. There was no need to worry James more.

Much to James' relief, Logan finally emerged from the bathroom. James engulfed him into a huge hug. "Logan, what's going on? You mumbled something and then ran out of the room. Who was that on the phone?"

James hadn't heard what he said. "James, something has happened to Gustavo. Wake Kendall up and I'll text Carlos. We need to have a talk."

* * *

James, Kendall and Carlos were shocked to hear the news about Gustavo but it was the way he died that had them so jolted. Gustavo was a large man with a huge uncontrollable temper, it would not have been much of a surprise to hear he had died of a heart attacked. But to be mutilated in his own office? No one would have guessed that in a million years.

"Do they know who did it?" Carlos asked.

"No," Logan said shaking his head. "The police are unsure who could have made four even cuts like that."

"Th-that's what the police said about Stephanie!" Carlos was officially scared.

Logan hesitated on how to proceed. He knew he needed to tell them about Fred Krueger and his history with the Palm Woods. It sounded crazy. Logan was a man of science. He didn't believe it at first either, but seeing is believing.

"You know something, don't you, Logan?" Kendall said with a bushy eyebrow raised.

"I, uh, did some research, and it seems the man from Stephanie and James' dreams is real." Logan wasn't ready to tell them about his own nightmare. "Or I mean he was. He's dead now."

Logan pulled up the news article on his lap top with the picture of Krueger. James gasped. "That's him! That's the guy from my dreams. He's face isn't burned, but I'd recognize that evil smile anywhere." He grabbed a hold of Logan's forearm.

"So the guy is dead. How does that explain anything?" Kendall asked.

"Well, he was murdered before he went to trial, burned to death by the residents here. Maybe he's seeking some sort of revenge. Or maybe he was stopped before killing all the people he wanted. I don't really know." James grip on his arm grew tighter. Logan placed a reassuring hand on top of James'.

"I thought you didn't believe in ghosts, Logan?" Carlos asked, smiling briefly at the memory of the night they all met Stephanie.

Logan let out a sigh. "I don't. But there's no other explanation. Once you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."

"Wait a second. Did you just quote Spock?" Kendall asked.

Logan rolled his eyes. "Does anyone have a better explanation?" He looked at the three other boys, who were silent. "I didn't think so. We just need to put our brains together and think of some way to get rid of this creep." An unwanted yawn snuck out of his mouth.

"Logan you should probably get some sleep first. You look horrible," Kendall said.

You try almost drowning and see how you look, he thought. "No. We can't sleep. That's how he gets us."

"What if we sleep in shifts?" Carlos suggested.

"Yeah! Three of us sleep and one of us keeps watch. If it looks like someone is having a nightmare we can wake up them up." Kendall said in agreement.

"I guess that could work," Logan said with a bit a skepticism in his voice. "But we all need to sleep in the same room."

Kendall was quick to volunteer. "I'll stay up first. I'm not sleepy because of my nap earlier. I shouldn't have any problem staying awake."

The others agreed and went to get dressed for bed. They returned to the living room with pillows and blankets and made themselves as comfortable as possible on the floor.

* * *

Kendall had about two hours left in the first watch when he started to feel a little drowsy. He made himself a cup of coffee and grabbed a pop tart from the cupboard. He returned to the living room and turned on the tv. He turned the volume down so he wouldn't wake his band mates.

Carlos drooled on his pillow as he hugged it for dear life. Logan laid on his back snoring softly with James snuggled up close with an arm over the small boy's stomach. Kendall had to admit that his best friends looked sort of cute while sleeping.

He began flipping channels trying to find something to entertain him for the next few hours. There was only infomercials on at this time of night so he decided to watch the one of Ed Begley's latest green products. Just as it was getting interesting, Kendall really had to pee. The coffee had gone straight to his bladder.

Kendall went to the bathroom but was so engulfed in the commercial he didn't close the door. He leaned back and positioned himself so he could see the television. As he finished, he saw movement out of the corner of his eye. Was one of the boys awake? This would be really embarrassing.

He flushed the toilet and washed his hands quickly before heading back to the living room. That's when Kendall saw him: Fred Krueger standing over his three best friends as if he were trying to decide who to screw with first.

"Hey!" Kendall called out, drawing the creep's attention away from his friends for a few moments. Krueger turned toward Kendall.

Kendall saw the man's burnt face for the first time and no longer felt brave, "Oh my God!"

"God?" Krueger said. "_This _is God." He held up his bladed hand and peeked at Kendall through the spaces between his fingers. Kendall froze and Krueger just laughed at him as he turned back towards the sleeping boys on the floor.

Kendall swallowed hard and balled his hands into fists. He was not going to allow this creep to hurt his friends. Not while he was in charge. He grabbed a nearby hockey stick and lunged at the man.

He knocked Krueger away from his friends and they tumbled to the ground in the process. Kendall landed on top of the creep, and punched him twice before Freddy grabbed his arm and gave him a toothy grin. "You can't hurt me. This is my world."

Krueger stood up, pulling Kendall with him. "Let me give you a hand." He started twisting Kendall's arm, bringing him down to his knees. Freddy twisted until there was a loud snap and Kendall let out a yelp. His arm broke. Freddy kicked Kendall in the stomach and the blonde boy fell to the corner, bent over in pain.

Freddy move back to the three sleeping boys. He set his sights on Carlos and bent down next to the boy. He whispered something Kendall couldn't hear into the Latino's ear. Carlos let out a small whimper and hugged his pillow even tighter.

Freddy laughed. He raised his blades and prepared to strike when suddenly an adrenaline rush came over Kendall. Despite the pain in his chest and his broken arm, he rushed the man again to keep him from Carlos. Kendall landed on his broken arm and let out a loud wail of pain. With tears streaming down his face he yelled, "Leave my friends alone!"

"Alright," Freddy said mischievously. He grabbed Kendall by the throat. The blonde clawed at the creep's hand with his good arm, but his attempt to break free was futile. "So you want to be famous?" The creep breathed right in his face. "I'm sure you'll be a big hit on tv."

Freddy smashed Kendall's head through the television set. There was a crash and then a horrible sizzling sound. His body shook as the voltage made it's way through his body. The lights flickered on and off and finally with a loud pop and a cloud of smoke Kendall's body went still.

The commotion woke Logan and James from their slumber. Logan immediately knew Kendall was dead when he saw him. There was no way he could have survived the blunt trauma or the electrocution. Before the boys could start to grieve for the loss of their friend, Logan heard a gurgling sound.

Logan looked down at Carlos. Freddy had got him too. His throat was slit and he was struggling to breathe as he choked on his own blood. Logan quickly grabbed a blanket, applying pressure to his friend's wound.

"Oh my God. Hold on, Carlos." Logan pulled out his cell phone and left bloody fingerprints on the screen as he dialed 9-1-1. He continued applying pressure as he waited for an operator to answer, but it was too late. Carlos let out a few choking sounds followed by a long gurgle. Then there was silence.

"Carlos? Carlos, no!" Logan cried with desperation. He began to do chest compressions and then blew a breath into his mouth. Blood came gurgling up. "No. No. No." He tried again but with the same results. Tears streaming down his face, he knew it was useless to try again.

"9-1-1, what is your emergency?" could be barely heard from Logan's phone.

"I n-need an ambulance," he told them through sobs. "My friends. My b-b-best friends are dead."


	6. Chapter 6

James and Logan stood with their hands clasped tightly together as they watched the EMTs load their two best friends on to stretchers and leave the apartment. Their eyes were red and puffy from crying, tears still streaming down their cheeks. They couldn't believe that only hours ago they had been sleeping and now they were awake in a real life nightmare.

The police had offered to notify Kendall and Carlos' parents, but Logan said he would take care of it. Logan thought Mrs. Knight would handle the news better if it came from him rather than a stranger. (She and Katie were in Minnesota for the week) He hoped she would be willing to tell Carlos' parents. Logan didn't think he had the nerves for both conversations.

When everyone was gone, Logan pulled out his phone that was still covered with bloody finger prints. He dialed Mama Knight's number but it went straight to voicemail. He left a message, telling her there was an emergency, but didn't leave any other details.

"What are we going to do now?" James asked with hopelessness in his voice.

"I don't know, James. But I do know we can't sleep until we figure this out." 

* * *

Logan and James had been awake for 48 hours straight. They sat snuggled together on the couch. The tv was on full blast, and the radio was playing loudly in the background.

Logan had out his laptop looking up things on the occult and about demons. There were lots of ways to get rid of evils spirits, but he was unsure of how to apply those to Freddy. Freddy was only alive in the dream world and it seemed he was in control there. How can you defeat someone that can't be hurt?

"Logan," James said, getting him to turn away from the computer screen. "Logan. Baby, I'm so tired. Can't I just take a small nap?"

Logan shook his head. "We can't risk it. What if something happens before I can wake you up?"

James' eyes started to flutter closed. "I know you won't let that happen, Logie."

Logan shook James and stopped him from falling asleep. "No. No. James. Don't you dare fall asleep." He frantically grabbed a small medicine bottle off the near by coffee table. "Here, take some more of these." Logan handed James 2 small red caffeine pills, who swallowed them quickly with a sip of Red Bull.

It was thanks to these caffeine pills, energy drinks and coffee that they had stayed awake this long. But Logan knew that their time was running out. They only had a few hours left before their brains would start to compensate for the lack of sleep. It would shut itself down to recharge, resulting in micro naps. They would fall sleep no matter how much caffeine they had in their system.

Logan closed his laptop and pushed it to the side. His eyes were starting to burn from looking at the screen. He let out a sigh and leaned back into James who wrapped his arm around him.

"I love you, Logie," James said and placed a kiss in the smaller boy's raven hair.

"I love you too, James," Logan responded with a tired smile.

With his eyes closed (he swore he would just rest them for a minute) Logan ran his fingers along James' bare arm, admiring the curves of the finely toned muscles. As he reached the taller boy's forearm, something felt off. Logan no longer felt skin; he felt cloth. Knitted cloth, actually. 

Logan's eyes shot open. He looked down and saw that an arm with red and green stripes was wrapped around him. And at the end of that arm was a hand wearing the bladed glove that, up until now, Logan had only seen in pictures. Logan froze, but inside, his mind was racing trying to decide what to do next. He told himself this was not the time to panic. Maybe if he sat still enough things would go back to normal.

The arm tightened it's grip around Logan and a wet, raspy voice spoke directly into his ear. "I'm your boyfriend now, Logan!" Logan decided that this was the perfect time to panic and tried to run, but Freddy's grip on him was too strong.

Logan let out a whimper as Freddy pinned him down on the couch. The creep sat on top of Logan with his arm pressed against the boy's throat. He leaned down, making Logan's face only inches from his own. The boy cringed at the sight of the hideously burnt face. Logan could smell the creep's rancid breath which smelled of decaying flesh as the man licked his cheek with a slimy pink tongue. He closed his eyes tightly, wishing he could melt or evaporate to get away from the man.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

Logan's eyes shot open. He had never been so thankful for the annoying sound of the alarm on his phone. He had set it to go off every hour, just in case he or James accidentally fell asleep. The taller boy still had his arm around him. Logan assumed he hadn't been asleep long or James would have noticed. It must have been one of those micro-naps he had read about earlier.

"That was close. Freddy had me," Logan said with his heart still racing. "Don't even close your eyes for a moment, James, or you could fall asleep."

Logan expected some sort of response from James, but all he received was silence.

"James?" Logan turned around frantically to see James with his eyes closed. "James? James!" He began to shake the taller boy, trying to wake him up. James' eyes remained closed. "James. James, baby. Please wake up. Wake up. Wake up!" he was shaking the boy violently now and tears were starting to form in his eyes.

That's when Logan felt the wetness. Not on his face from the tears, but on his back and on his hands. It was warm. Logan knew that feeling and didn't want to look. If he didn't look, then it wasn't true.

Once he gained the courage, Logan looked down at his hands. They were covered in blood. James' blood. James was dead. Freddy had killed him.

Logan couldn't hold back his tears any longer. "I'm sorry, baby. I'm so sorry," Logan wailed as he cradled his boyfriend. James had fallen asleep when Logan was sleeping. Logan blamed himself. If only he had been able to keep himself awake, then he could have protected him.

"James. Baby. James, I am so sorry," Logan continued to say through sobs.

Logan was all alone.


	7. Chapter 7

Logan sat on the couch with his knees pulled up to his chest. He had been crying for the past hour at least and the longer he cried, the more his sadness turned to anger. By the time he felt he had no more tears to cry, Logan was seething. It was his fault that Freddy had murdered James. He was hell bent on revenge. Logan looked over to his dead lover and a fire was ignited within him. He was going to make this creep pay, or die trying.

Logan would need to sleep soon. As he prepared himself for a slumber he may never wake from, Logan dug through a pile of James' clothes. He smiled when he found the pretty boy's lucky white v-neck and put it on. Logan had never believed in luck, but the shirt still smelled of James and this gave him comfort. With James' smell engulfing his senses, Logan lay down in his bed and waited for sleep to come.

* * *

Logan was positive he was asleep. There was no way that he was still awake. His severe lack of sleep trumped the amount of caffeine he had consumed. Yes. Logan was sure he was asleep, but so far no sign of Freddy. If Freddy was going to be a coward and not show himself, then Logan would hunt him down.

Logan knew exactly where to start his hunt: the boiler room. "Krueger! I know you're here! Show yourself!" Logan yelled. His voiced echoed in the darkness and was met with a barely audible laugh.

He turned to follow the sound. As he walked through the labyrinth of pipes and steam, Logan found a discarded T-handled socket wrench. He knew that he couldn't inflict much damage with this as a weapon, but he felt a bit braver not going in to a conflict empty handed.

Logan rounded a corner when he heard a noise akin to nails on a chalkboard. WREEEEEEEE. He turned around and out of no where he was face to face with Freddy. All of Logan's bravery drained as the two stood face to face.

"I've been waiting for you, Logan," Freddy said with out moving. "I knew you'd come to me. You've always been my favorite." Logan started to back away slowly, his hand gripping the socket wrench tightly behind his back.

"Well, if you want me, Krueger, then you're going to have to catch me!" he said through gritted teeth before turning and running.

"Ah, the trill of the chase," Krueger said with satisfaction. He ran his blades across a pipe creating a small spark before following after the boy.

Logan ran as fast as he could, turning his head to look behind him every so often to check for Krueger. After making a right turn down another row of pipes, Logan saw a figure a few feet in front of him. Logan knew it wasn't Freddy, but it was someone familiar.

"Wh-who's there?" Logan asked timidly. The figure took a few steps forward into a beam of light.

It was James! Logan started to run towards his lover but stopped abruptly when he could see the full extent of James' injuries. Freddy had stabbed him in the back, so Logan had not seen the damage until now.

"Why Logan?" James cried. "Why didn't you save me?"

Logan was crying now. "Oh, James. I'm so sorry. It's all my fault.. I'm so, so sorry. I love you."

"If you loved me, you would have saved me," James said.

"No! No! That's a lie. I did love you. I do love you!"

Logan was sobbing now. He moved closer, wanting to take James in his arms and make him understand, but as soon as taller boy was close enough to touch, he disappeared. Logan screamed, falling to his knees as the pain of losing his lover once again overcame him.

It took Logan a few moments to gain his bearings, telling himself that wasn't really James. It was just part of the nightmare. Logan sprinted off again, knowing sooner or later Freddy would find him and he would have to confront Krueger.

Logan passed by a furnace and that's when it hit him. Fire. Freddy's body had been burned to death but his soul had survived. Maybe he could destroy him for good by burning the creep's spirit in the dream world. He remembered passing some cleaning supplies, so he turned and ran in that direction.

When he reached the scattered bottles he frantically read the warning labels. WD40, Bleach, window cleaner, all non-flammable. Ammonia! Not highly flammable, but Logan supposed it could serve his purpose. He eyed the other containers quickly before running back towards the furnace. He ducked down behind it and waited.

It wasn't long before Freddy showed up. "Tired of running, Logan? I thought you would have lasted much longer than this." He had an evil grin on his face as he approached the boy. "I can't say I'm disappointed though. Now the fun can begin." He extended his bladed fingers.

When Krueger was close enough, Logan lunged out pouring the ammonia all over the creep. Freddy just laughed in his face.

"This is my world, Logan. Nothing can hurt me here, remember?" Freddy said as he reached out to grab him. Logan just barely escaped his grasp and started to run toward the exit. Freddy followed after him in a blind rage.

"You're starting to piss me off, kid!" he yelled as he angrily scraped his blades against the pipes. The friction caused a large spark and ignited the ammonia on his gloved hand. Freddy shook his hand furiously which only made the fire spread.

Logan reached the exit and turned back to see Krueger engulfed in flames. He let out the breath he didn't know he was holding as the door closed, completely unaware that the automatic sprinkler system had started. He sprinted down the sidewalk away from The Palmwoods and he didn't look back.

Logan was out of breath. He had been running for what felt like an eternity and he no longer knew where he was. He didn't recognize any of his surroundings but it all felt oddly familiar. Logan leaned against a brick wall and closed his eyes as he gasped to catch his breath. Just as his breathing started to steady, he could feel the presence of someone standing in front of him. He slowly opened his eyes.

"Hello, Logan," a gruff voice said.

His scream echoed through the streets. "Noooooooo! You're dead! I killed you."

Freddy smiled when he saw the panic in the boy's eyes. He moved in closer so there was only inches between them.

"Oh, I'm going to take my time with you," he said. "I was going to do this to James, but James is just so pretty." He brought up his hand and used the blade on his pointer finger to make a cut along Logan's cheek.

Logan hissed in pain as blood trickled down his face and onto his neck. Freddy brought the blade to his own mouth and licked away the warm liquid.

"Just get it over with, Krueger" Logan pleaded. "You've taken all my friends. I've- I've got nothing left." Tears mixed with the blood on his cheek as they overflowed from his eyes. Logan was at his wit's end and was ready to give up.

"Okay," Freddy grunted, his voice filled with blood lust. He raised his bladed hand and swung forward, stabbing Logan directly in the stomach.

Logan didn't scream. It happened so fast he didn't even feel any pain. He tasted the blood in his mouth. All the color drained from his face as he fell to his knees.

"This isn't real," he said. "This isn't real. This is just a dream."

Logan was now completely on the ground crying softly to himself. He coughed, blood spewing from his mouth.

"I'm not afraid. This isn't real. I'm not afraid anymore."

He coughed again and then everything went black.

* * *

Logan's eyes fluttered open and he was immediately blinded by the brightness that surrounded him. Everything looked white in his eyes. Was he dead? Was this heaven? He raised a hand trying to shield his eyes from the light and suddenly the glare was gone. Logan looked around realized he is in his own bed.

"Good morning, Sleepy head."

Logan was completely awake at the sound of the familiar voice. "J-james?" He sat straight up in bed, eyes wide at the sight of his boyfriend adjusting the blinds.

"What's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost!" James said.

Logan leapt out of bed and practically tackled James as he embraced him tightly. A small tear fell down Logan's cheek. "James. James is this really you?" he whispered.

"Of course it's me. Why wouldn't it be?" James grabbed Logan by the shoulders and gently forced him to break the hug. He bent down slightly to look Logan in the eyes. He saw a mixture of love, fear and disbelief. He tenderly rubbed the tear from Logan's cheek with his thumb. "What's wrong, baby?"

Logan shook his head and looked down at his feet embarrassed. "It's nothing. Just a bad dream I guess."

James pulled Logan back into a hug and placed a chaste kiss in his raven hair. "Well, it's over now." He gave the smaller boy a good squeeze before breaking their embrace. "Hurry and get dressed. You know how Gustavo gets if we're late."

James left the bed room as Logan got dressed. "Just a dream," he said to himself thoughtfully as he pulled a grey shirt over his head. He pulled on a pair of jeans, grabbed his shoes and headed out to the living room. He found his three band mates sitting at the dining table finishing up breakfast. He joined them at the table, taking bites of toast while tying his shoes.  
Mrs. Knight placed a green coffee mug in front of him, but Logan stopped her from pouring any of the hot liquid. "I'm not really in the mood for coffee this morning, Mama Knight. Can I just have some milk?" Logan wasn't sure he would ever be in the mood for coffee again.

"Well, it's 8:15. We better go guys," Kendall said as he stood up from the table. Logan grabbed a piece of toast for the road and followed him out into the hallway with James and Carlos not far behind. As they gathered at the elevator, Logan realized he had left his wallet in the bedroom.

"I'll be right back." Logan said as he felt his back pocket. He quickly dashed back to the apartment and grabbed his wallet from the dresser in his room. He returned just as the doors on the elevator were beginning to close.

Logan ran down the hall to catch the elevator, but just missed it. As the doors closed in front of him, Logan noticed a fourth person in the elevator: a person with a burnt face, a red and green sweater, a black hat, and an evil grin. Logan immediately realized who the person was, but it was too late.

"No! No! No! No!" He began to frantically push the buttons on the elevator trying to get the doors back open, but to no avail. The doors remained closed and his protests were met with the sound of evil laughter followed by blood curdling screams.

* * *

**I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who has read this fic. I'm sorry if it didn't end the way you hope. I personally don't believe in happy endings in horror stories/movies/etc. I would appreciate if you would leave a review and let me know your opinion. **


End file.
